Outside of our master bathroom renovation I think our staircase makeover and flooring have been among our biggest transformations in our new home! Who knew painting rails would make such a ginormous impact?
Let’s take a look at what we were working with…
BEFORE
Hardwoods Refinishing
We knew refinishing our hardwoods would be a pretty penny to do but we are beyond happy we did it now…because had we not, we probably would have never done it! Also, this project (and interior paint) really transformed the house into home for us. It made our new space feel clean, updated, and more like us!
Originally we had planned to go super dark on our floors. In fact, Matt and I were both split between Jacobean for his vote and Dark Walnut for mine. But after receiving so many comments on my insta-stories advising us not to go dark, we reconsidered our stain. I owe you all a huge thanks for the stern warnings against being slaves to cleaning dark floors. So we asked for 4 more colors to review…
And then we had the kids run all over them to give them the ultimate dirt test and polled our friends a million times before selecting…
50% Dark Walnut mixed with 50% Provincial. And we’ve been REALLY happy with them.
I almost cried happy tears when our hardwoods guy sent me this picture of the freshly stained floors (still very wet here)! A tremendous improvement from the well loved honey stained floors. We also replaced all of the floor return registers throughout the house. Most of the original vents were either broken or severely rusted out and disgusting…
I loved the wicker design on these registers. You can buy them from Amazon or if you’re frugal like me you can go to ebay and buy a set of $15 off $50 printable Lowes coupons for .99 and then buy your registers in quantities of 4 at a time from Lowes. It may not sound like much, but when you need like 20 registers, this savings adds up quickly! I placed all of my orders online for in-store pick-up and I also used ebates for cash back on all of my Lowes purchases! You can sign up for ebates here!
Staircase Banister
The next project was painting the banister. I knew painting the banister was a risky move but it was one I was
willing to take — and I’m so glad I did. I am obsessed with how it turned out. I wanted to go dark for a nice contrast, but not too dark since my walls were painted a super light grey. I spent many, many nights scrolling through Pinterest and researching paint colors. It finally came down to Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron and Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black.
We selected Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron and love that it’s a super dark grey instead of black! It perfectly contrasts our wall paint and flooring.
And a year later we tackled the wall niche!!! We dry walled it up and hung a mirror!
SOURCE LIST
Hardwood Floor Company: Hudson Hardwoods
Wall Paint Color: Benjamin Moore Gray Owl cut 50% in cashmere finish
Trim Color: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace
Banister Color: Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron
Hardwood Stain: 50% Provincial + 50% Dark Walnut
Floor Registers
Love it. Perfect balance of color! I am one of those who said don't go too dark…It looks fabulous!
Looks wonderful!! Love the banister! We moved a year ago and did the same – refinished hardwoods/new paint. It really does make a difference!! I keep trying to find new registers but they seem to be a weird size 🙁 boooo!
absolutely gorgeous!!! It really changes the room!! I'm obsessed with your wall color against the floors!! What a difference these changes make to the room!!
Love them! And thank you for letting me know your stain colors…I did the same and absolutely think it is the perfect color!
Looks great!! Totally changes the entryway!
I'm obsessed! Please come assist with my house…on a next to nothing budget. HAHA.
Love it!! It looks amazing!
This looks AMAZING — I absolutely love it!! Good choices!
Looks wonderful! I would do a pretty mirror or a tobacco basket in wall nook
Oh my goodness, what a transformation! It looks SO good!!!! PS – I'll be referring back to this when the hardwood color decision has to happen!
So gorgeous!! Love that wall color!
The cubby we had in the home we just sold started holding some of our most beloved books, then we switched to our family Bible, a picture of five generations of family with my husband as an infant, and a small shadowbox from my Pap's funeral. We made it reflect our personality and values, since it draws so much attention naturally.The floors and banister are beautiful – such a refreshing and modern update!
It looks beautiful! I love the slightly darker floors and the contrast of the banister! Maybe find a way to incorporate a family photo into the niche?https://hotmesscoolday.wordpress.com
W-o-W! What a difference! Ob-sessed! xo
Wow! Love the updates. It looks amazing. Congrats on your new home. Oh! We had a cubby like that and it sat empty for a year before I went to zgallerie with pictures and measurements and they set me up with a large flat vase full of magnolia blooms! I had joked I wanted to drywall it in because it was stressing me out so much when it was empty!
Looks amazing!! It's incredible how much just changing a color (via paint or floor stain) drastically changes a house! It looks like a new build now! Also, my friend always keeps some flowers and a bowl of candy in her alcove. Now with toddlers, that might not work as well, ha! But it's super nice when she has guests over. Everyone knows that the candy bowl is a free for all! Can't wait to see the rest of the house transformations!
Looks beautiful!
I'd want to change that wall niche for holidays, but that would probably end up being much work. A large vase or some candles/frames and a large mirror could look nice!
The house is looking AMAZING!
I love it! The darker floors with the clean paint are gorgeous. Jess at Just Jess
It looks SO amazing!! I'm loving following along on your new house journey 🙂
Friend it is AMAZING. What a transformation! That nook … it would look so great with an arrangement inside. But definitely something low-fuss. For a live arrangement, how about an orchid — it would get perfect indirect light from the windows on the side and above your front door. Or, a cool vase filled with an arrangement of cotton bolls!
Looks so beautiful!!!! And I definitely never knew that eBay has coupons! Total game changer for our kitchen remodel! ?Thesmalltownrose.blogspot.com
Thank yourself for not going extra dark on the floors!!!! We did that when we built our house seven years ago and I want to kick myself every day for doing it. They look dirty all. the. time. I can sweep and mop and literally 30 minutes later they look dirty again. It's so annoying!! And now that we have two little nuggets, well, I just gave up cleaning them altogether. Haha.
This looks so good!!! I can't wait to see the final reveal!
Oh my gosh it looks AMAZING! Such a huge difference! The floors are gorgeous.
Amazing!!! it looks gorgeous – love how its all come together x
Is no one going to mention the awesome link to those lowes coupons!?!?!?! Thank you for that!!!! Of course, the makeover is fab!
WOW! looks amazing, beautiful updates!
I am LOVING the house posts! Please keep them coming! Would also love to see more about the moving process, everything from packing tips to how you managed the renovations plus the move in with kids. Your house is so beautiful! I'm sure you're thrilled with how it's coming together.
What a transformation! It looks great!
This is GORGEOUS!!!!!! We have the same registers, and our floor color looks super similar, too! EEEEK! So exciting!
Wow! Great stain choice and I love the paint color for the bannister!
Wow, this is absolutely gorgeous! Well done!xx Rapunzelwww.rapunzelthepsychologist.com
Wow! Beautiful! I can't wait to see how you decorate that staircase for the holidays, so many options!
I love transformations! Gorgeous!
if your budget will allow you to spend a lot of money then there is nothing stopping you
Your new home looks terrific and I also like the rooster wallpaper. Everything look so good and you need your things from your sold house – it makes it more like home. Garage Door Repair & Installation Services In Long Beach
Would love to know if your floors are red oak or white oak as I love the color combination but I have red oak and not sure it would come out looking the same if yours is white oak. Thanks.
I had the same question. After looking at the sanded and stained parts of the floors, especially how they look compared to our red oak floors, these seem to be white oak. Just my guess.
Hi Debbie!
Our floors are white oak! 🙂
Over a year later, do you still like the floor color? I have to make the decision soon for our new house!
What is the finish for the banisters, please? Did you go with a semi-gloss? Looking to do the same. Thanks!
Loving the transformation. What finish was the Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron color?
Beautiful. All of it. What does Benjamin Moore Grey Owl cut 50% mean? What is the special Walnut stain?
Love the Provencial stain, can you tell me the brand name please. We have brand new white oak floors and are struggling to find a stain color that is not a honey golden and still light. Thank you
Love this!! Especially the color or the floors you went with! What brand of stain was it that you used? I would love to try this.
LOVE your hardwood and staircase make over! Wowzers what a difference! We are doing a make over on ours as well and I am so happy I ran across your post!! Can you please share with me the species of your floors? Is it red oak? Thank you!!
I am just about to choose a stain for my red oak floors. Do you have any regret going this dark with yours? I LOVE how they look but with dogs and cats, I wonder if it would be a lot of work?